


Reality 9

by Keenir



Series: Possible Worlds [2]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-08
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 09:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/911739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to part of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/893619/chapters/1725013">Of All Possible Worlds</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reality 9

_"Hear me and hear me well, Son Of Coul," Thor said deliberately, even as he knew now that the relevant surname was inaccurate. "I shall agree to answer your questions._ After _I am assured that my brother's health is secure, I shall answer you. Do you understand?"_

_Phil Coulson nodded. "I understand, Thor."_

_Sif and Eir, the foremost medical person on Asgard, stepped forward to transfer Loki to SHIELD medical custody. Coulson looked over when some of his fellow SHIELD agents started making distressed objections. "I'm sorry, but -" he said, turning to Thor again._

_"Eir goes with Loki," Thor said, brooking no disagreement. "Her transport has been arranged for a later time."_

_"We're not entirely incompetent when it comes to medicine," Coulson said._ And don't think its escaped me that you want us to keep an eye on your brother, when he could just as easily be kept under observation on your world. _But he kept silent._

_"That is to the good."_

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

As she sat against one wall, one eye on the occupied bed and the equally-occupied neighboring bed, and the room's door visible with slightly more than the corner of her other eye, _If I ever find out who decided that 'retirement' and 'babysitting' are the same thing..._ thought SHIELD agent Melinda May, officially retired, unofficially as liable to be called to duty as anyone else in the organization. _On the other hand, if I object, they might well put me back in the field. I. Do. Not. Want that,_ she thought firmly.

The file compiled from various things gathered from statements by Thor and those New Mexico witnesses, it added up to say that this woman - _**Sif**_ \- was an elite warrior from Thor's society, the nearest thing they had to a SEAL...several witnesses had remarked that she had _enjoyed_ herself in the battle not unlike a cat toying with a small bird. The file went on to say that Sif was accomplished with multiple types of weapons, able to kill with a blade of grass, etc, etc.

When he had heard of this assignment, Phil had asked 'why would they put you on babysitting duty?'

 _Because I can be just as deadly,_ agent May knew. 

Agent May had initially been flooded with forms to fill out in the early days of this posting. But after a while, the number of forms had gone down in number - _there are a near-infinite number of ways of describing the same exact thing every single day, but there are a finite number of people who want to read that,_ she knew. But the forms always came - SHIELD may be a secret organization, but their jurisdiction and the manner of their birth combined to make them adverse to going without every tidbit of information possible.

"My mother would be laughing at me right now," Sif said. "My aunts would be beside themselves with pride and congratulating me." 

_Conversation. That's new._ "Your mother doesn't like hospitals?" agent May asked. 

"She had no objections to their agents of medicine. What she would find humourous is how my refusal to learn magic has brought me here," looking at Loki with eyes that linked to a mind knowing that agent May could in probability read the concern in Sif's eyes. "A situation which she could, I have little doubt, have wrought a solution to."

 _Magic. Right._ "Our doctors are doing what they can." 

Sif didn't comment on what cure could be offered by barbers and sawbones, when the plight was so obviously magical. Finally, in concession to the woman who had been here for two weeks now, and showed no sign of not showing up in the next weeks, Sif said "I am sure they are. I thank you." 

"You're worried. I know the feeling," Melinda replied. 

"There is no remarking among your colleagues if you linger too long over a body?" 

Melinda couldn't help but snort at that. "They know better." 

And Sif nodded knowingly. "It is not a mistake made twice."

A minute passed. Half an hour. An hour. Most of a day. Then "You have a question," Sif observed.

"Not relevant," agent May said. "I've got a job to do."

A look crossed Sif's face, something particularly Asgardian, followed by what Melinda would swear was recognition. "Was that how I used to be?" Sif asked, more amused at herself than at May. To Melinda, "Ask. I insist," weighting it with a promise to do something if the agent didn't comply.

With a half-shrug, Melinda May said, "It's none of my business, but what is _he_ to you?" her eyes gesturing at Loki.

Sif hefted the question, feeling different answers in her mind. "He is my," and used a word May hadn'd heard since one of her first postings as a green SHIELD agent.

Melinda blinked. "Did you just call him your comrade?"

"We were."

"In Mandarin."

"I am speaking in the AllTongue," Sif said. "It normally translates into the speech of the listener, though when it needs a word, it can reach around a world."

"Useful ability," curious what the SHIELD reaction would be to that. "And your comrade here...is he someone we've heard of?"

"Heard of, I have no doubt. Known any who have interacted with him when he was involved with your world, no. But then, the same was true of Thor, once upon a time.


End file.
